That mocking "big shot" in the crypto world who looked down on the poor has finally landed himself in prison.

Once the so-called “King of the Crypto World” Do Kwon, who was once arrogant on Twitter and mocked the poor, finally bowed his head.

On December 11, with the gavel falling, Do Kwon, the mastermind behind the Terra/Luna collapse, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges including securities fraud.

For many outsiders, this might just be another financial news story; but for those who experienced the disaster firsthand, this delayed justice awakens a painful memory worth 40 billion dollars. It is the sound of countless people’s retirement funds, home purchases, and even broken families.

Today, we won’t discuss complex market trends, but focus on how this “financial alchemy” harvested ordinary people and what it left behind.

The Illusion of Wealth “Left Hand Giving, Right Hand Taking”

Rewind a few years, Do Kwon told an extremely captivating story.

He designed two tokens: one was UST (TerraUSD), claimed to be a “stablecoin” always equal to 1 USD; the other was Luna, used as a “cushion” to absorb UST fluctuations.

His logic seemed perfect: if UST fell, print Luna to buy; if UST rose, burn Luna to sell. It was like someone trying to pull their own hair to leave Earth, which in the financial world we call a “castle in the air,” but in the frenzy of that time, it was seen as a “miracle.”

Where was the deadly temptation? To make everyone believe this story, he launched the Anchor protocol, simply put: “Deposit your money with me, with an annual yield of 20%.”

In an era of low interest rates, what does a risk-free 20% return mean? It was a classic Ponzi scheme. No real business profits could support this interest; it relied entirely on new investors’ principal to pay previous investors’ interest. But Do Kwon, through false propaganda and market manipulation, made everyone believe that this algorithm was invincible.

Within days, hundreds of billions vanished

Collapse often happens in an instant.

When the first domino fell, big players started selling off, and panic withdrawals erupted.

UST dropped from 1 dollar to less than half a cent, and the so-called “stability” became a joke.

Luna plummeted from nearly 80 dollars to a few zeros after the decimal point.

Those were the darkest days in the crypto world. There were no sophisticated hacker attacks; it was simply a loss of “confidence.” In just a few days, the market cap of 40 billion dollars evaporated.

Social media was flooded with voices of despair: some lost their lifelong savings, some even lost their lives. And what was Do Kwon doing at this time? Covering up the truth, looking for market makers to prop up the market, continuing to lie that “due to the algorithm’s self-healing ability, we will be back soon.”

From “Arrogant Genius” to “International Fugitive”

Do Kwon’s escape route reads like a Hollywood blockbuster.

A month before the collapse, he sensed danger and quietly left South Korea for Singapore. Then he moved between Dubai and Serbia.

What angered people most was his attitude. Even while being wanted by Interpol, he continued to tweet high-profile posts, give interviews, and register new companies in Serbia, as if mocking the law’s impotence.

He was finally arrested in Montenegro when attempting to board a plane with a fake passport. The police confiscated his luxury car, computers, and forged IDs.

This was followed by a long extradition tug-of-war between South Korea and the United States. South Korea wanted to prosecute him, and the US also sought to try him. Ultimately, at the end of 2024, he was extradited to the US. In August 2025, he pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York, admitting to telecom and securities fraud.

What did 15 years in prison buy?

Fifteen years of imprisonment and the confiscation of 19 million USD of illegal gains.

Some think the sentence was light, given that the 40 billion USD loss is irreparable; but legally, it is a very significant judgment. It sent the strongest signal to all “Web3 innovators”:

No matter how grand you package your scam, whether you call it “algorithmic stablecoin” or “DeFi revolution,” as long as it is fraud and involves misappropriation of user assets, no matter how far you run, prison is the end.

This verdict also officially marked the end of the “Wild West” era of cryptocurrencies.

A “Pitfall Avoidance Guide” for Ordinary Investors

The collapse of Terra and Do Kwon’s imprisonment are lessons paid for with countless blood and tears. As ordinary users, how can we protect ourselves?

Beware of “risk-free high returns”: if a project promises an annualized 20% yield and claims “capital preservation,” treat it as a scam directly. No free lunch exists; only traps.

Don’t touch what you don’t understand: don’t be fooled by lofty terms like “algorithm” or “dual-token model.” If you can’t explain its profit model in one sentence, it probably isn’t clear even to its creators.

Embrace compliance and transparency: the regulatory environment has changed. Before investing, check for reserve proof, see if the team is transparent, and whether it operates within a compliant framework.

Cold Reflection After the Clamor

Do Kwon’s story is over, but human greed will never end.

Every bull market brings new “geniuses” with new “myths.” Hopefully, next time when we see that tempting “20%”, we will remember the image of Do Kwon walking into prison and protect our own money bags. **$LUNA **$LUNC